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Teenage Sailor Abby Sunderland Feared Lost at Sea

damn.... hopefully this ends well...

A 16-year-old Southern California girl attempting a solo sail around the world was feared in trouble Thursday in the frigid, heaving southern Indian Ocean after her emergency beacons began signaling and communication was lost.

Abby Sunderland's family was talking with U.S. and international governments about organizing a search of the remote ocean between southern Africa and Australia, family spokesman Christian Pinkston said.

Conditions can quickly become perilous for any sailor exposed to the elements in that part of the world.

"We've got to get a plane out there quick," said Pinkston, who was in close contact with Sunderland's family in Thousand Oaks.

"They are exhausting every resource to try to mobilize an air rescue including discussions with the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and various international rescue organizations," he said.

Abby last communicated with her family at 4 a.m. PDT and reported 30-foot swells but was not in distress, Pinkston said.

An hour later the family was notified that her emergency beacons had been activated, and there was no further communication. Pinkston said the beacons were manually activated.

Abby set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey in her 40-foot boat, Wild Eyes, on Jan. 23 in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping. Her brother Zac briefly held the record at age 17.

Abby soon ran into equipment problems and had to stop for repairs. She gave up the goal of setting the record in April, but continued on.

On May 15, Australian 16-year-old Jessica Watson claimed the record after completing a 23,000-mile circumnavigation in 210 days.

On Wednesday, she wrote in her log that it had been a rough few days with huge seas that had her boat "rolling around like crazy."

"I've been in some rough weather for awhile with winds steady at 40-45 knots with higher gusts," she wrote. "With that front passing, the conditions were lighter today. It was a nice day today with some lighter winds which gave me a chance to patch everything up. Wild Eyes was great through everything but after a day with over 50 knots at times, I had quite a bit of work to do."

"Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.” -- Gen. George S. Patton

i hope she's ok but am i the only one who questions how a parent could think this is something that they would be ok with their 16 year old doing?

I would not be okay with it with my kids but listening to an interview with her parents, I can see where she was no different than an adult when it came to trying this feat. She has been sailing since she was a baby. She and her parents have incredible faith in her abilities. I say that there is nothing wrong with it but you have to prepare for the consequences of your choices and her being lost at sea is one of them. I sincerely hope she is okay.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

I read that the transponders are next to each other and moving at 1 mph and had to be hand activated. More than likely the boat rolled and that is why she could not use the satellite phone. I am putting this girl in my prayers tonight not just for her safety, but for her parents to wake the F up. I would never let my 16 y/o daughter out of the cellar, let alone sail around the world...BY HERSELF!!!!!!!!

"Alcoholism, is like, the only disease you can get yelled at for having" - Mitch
Hedberg

Update on Abby
We spoke with Abby early this morning and learned that she had had a very rough day with winds up to 60 knots and seas 20-25 feet. She had been knocked down several times but was handling things well. The wind had subsided to around 35 knots which she and Wild Eyes are quite comfortable with.

We were helping her troubleshoot her engine that she was trying to start to charge her systems. Satellite phone reception was patchy. She was able to get the water out of the engine and start her up. We were waiting to hear back from her when American Search & Rescue authorities called to report having received a signal from her emergency beacon (EPIRB). We initially thought that the signal was sent automatically from her water-activated EPIRB and that it had been activated during one of her knockdowns. As we pulled the paperwork from her EPIRB registration, we learned that the signal had come from her manually activated EPIRB.

We were referred to Australian Search & Rescue and while we were on the phone with them another signal came in from her handheld PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). Her water-activated EPIRB has not been activated so we are hopeful that the boat is still upright.

We are working closely with American, French and Australian Search & Rescue authorities to coordinate several ships in the area to divert to her location. There are several ships in her area, the earliest possible contact is 40 hours. We are actively seeking out some sort of air rescue but this is difficult due to the remoteness of her location. Australian Search & Rescue have arranged to have a Quantas Airbus fly over her location at first light (she is 11 hours later). They will not be able to help her other than to talk via marine radio if they are able to get close enough. Hopefully, they will be able to assess her situation and report back to us.

Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize.

Thank you for all of your kind emails and calls. We appreciate your prayers and support.

OK. I really hope this girl turns out to be safe; however, I read that her family wants to get the US Department of State and the US Coast Guard involved in her rescue. Now I don't mean to sound cold about this, but I don't want my taxpayer money going to try to save some rich kid who decided to undertake what amounts to a vanity project. If this 16 year old kid's parent could buy her a boat and encourage her to try and break this record then they should be the ones forking over the dough to save her ass.

Friday, June 11, 2010 12:02am PDT
Abby Sunderland is alive and apparently safe aboard her damaged sailboat
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
Abby Sunderland, 16, is alive and apparently well, floundering in rough seas in the Indian Ocean without a mast, but safely aboard her 40-foot boat and awaiting the arrival of rescue ships.

An Australian plane with 11 trained observers found Sunderland, who on Thursday had activated two emergency distress beacons signaling an international rescue attempt, not long after daybreak Friday and made contact with her on a marine radio channel.

The mariner from Thousand Oaks, Calif., who had been attempting to become the youngest person to have sailed around the world alone, had lost has mast and rigging after her vessel apparently rolled in heaving seas. Her position is extremely remote, more than 2,000 miles from Australia and Africa.

"I was envisioning all sorts of nightmare situations," Marianne Sunderland, Abby's mom, said when reached via phone at her family's home in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Marianne and Laurence Sunderland, and six other children, had remained in their home, refusing to talk to reporters, until they had learned the fate of their daughter.

Marianne did not talk to Abby but Abby told the airplane crew she "was fine" and not badly hurt.

A rescue has not been made, however. The nearest ship bound for her position is about 30 hours away, but fierce winds and seas that had been upwards of 40 feet are abating. Australian, American and French search-and-rescue authorities are cooperating in the rescue attempt.

-- Image courtesy of 2010 Lisa Gizara/GizaraArts.com

"you can't change JMJ, it's legendary"- Brett Norton 9/24/07

"It's the "JMJ" everyone had grown to love, man! Time to blow the roof off this place!"
-Zachenfoot 2/23/10

CANBERRA, Australia -- A 16-year-old California girl who was feared lost at sea while sailing solo around the world has been found alive and well, adrift in the southern Indian Ocean with rescue boats headed toward her damaged yacht, officials said.

After a tense 20 hours of silence, a Qantas Airbus A330 search plane launched from Australia's west coast made radio contact with Abby Sunderland on Friday in the frigid southern seas where her boat was repeatedly knocked down by huge waves and she lost satellite phone contact.

Search coordinator Mick Kinley, acting chief of the Australia Maritime Safety Authority that chartered the airliner, said the boat's mast was broken -- ruining satellite phone reception -- and was dragging with the sail in the ocean.

But the keel was intact, the yacht was not taking water and Abby was equipped for the conditions, he said.

"The aircraft (crew) spoke to her. They told her help was on the way and she sounds like she's in good health," Kinley told reporters in Canberra.

"She's going to hang in there until a vessel can get to her in about 24 hours," he added, referring to Saturday afternoon Australian time.

Abby, a lifelong sailor, started her journey trying to be the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop around the world and continued her trip after mechanical failures dashed that dream.

Abby told searchers she was doing fine with a space heater and at least two weeks' worth of food, said family spokesman William Bennett.

Support team member Jeff Casher said the boat had gotten knocked on its side several times.

The French regional administration on the island of Reunion, off Madagascar, said it had sent three boats in her direction. The first was expected to reach her on Saturday.

Friday's communication with Sunderland was the first since satellite phone communications were lost and her emergency beacons began signaling early Thursday.

She had made several broken calls to her family in Thousand Oaks, California, and reported her yacht was being tossed by 30-foot (9-meter) waves.

The 11 observers aboard the plane, which left Perth early Friday, spoke with her by close-range VHF marine radio, western Australia state police spokesman Senior Sgt. Graham Clifford said.

He said the jet faced a 4,700-mile (7,600-kilometer) round trip from Perth to Sunderland's boat, which is near the limit of its range.

Qantas spokesman Tom Woodward said the airliner flew five hours out to sea to reach the area where the beacons were transmitting then maneuvered for another hour before spotting the 40-foot (13-meter) yacht.

Abby's family and support team were confident she was alive because the beacons were deliberately turned on rather than set off automatically.

"She's got all the skills she needs to take care of what she has to take care of, she has all the equipment as well," said brother Zac, himself a veteran of a solo sail around the world at age 17.

But renowned Australian round-the-world sailor Ian Kiernan said Abby should not have been in the southern Indian Ocean during the current southern hemisphere winter.

"Abby would be going through a very difficult time with mountainous seas and essentially hurricane-force winds," Kiernan told Sky News television.

Conditions can quickly become perilous for any sailor exposed to the elements in that part of the world.

Her brother said Abby was prepared and mentally tough. "I really wish I could see her and hope she gets through this one," he told reporters outside the family home.

Abby had last communicated with her family at 4 a.m. California time (7 a.m. EDT, 1100 GMT) Thursday and reported 30-foot (9-meter) swells but was not in distress, Pinkston said.

Casher said Abby had to make repeated calls with her satellite phone because of sketchy connections. He said she had been in rough weather and had a problem with her engine, which she eventually managed to start. The team then asked her to check other things on the boat.

"She hung up to go check some things and she never did call back," he said.

An hour later the family was notified that her emergency beacons had been activated, and there was no further communication.

Abby -- whose father is a shipwright and has a yacht management company -- set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey in her boat, Wild Eyes, on Jan. 23 in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping. Her brother briefly held the record in 2009.

Abby soon ran into equipment problems and had to stop for repairs. She gave up the goal of setting the record in April, but continued on.

"Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.” -- Gen. George S. Patton

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